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The All-India Muslim League (Bengali:
নিখিল ভারত মুসলিম লিগ, Urdu: آل انڈیا مسلم لیگ), founded at
Dhaka, Bengal, in 1906, was a political party in British India that played a role in the Indian independence
movement and developed into the driving force behind the
creation of Pakistan as a
Muslim state on the Indian
subcontinent.[1]
After the independence of India
and Pakistan, the League
continued as a minor party in India, especially in Kerala, where it is often in
government within a coalition with others. In Pakistan, the League
formed the country's first government, but disintegrated during the
1950s following an army coup. One or more factions of the Muslim
League have been in power in most of the civilian governments of
Pakistan since 1947. In Bangladesh, the party was revived in 1976
and won 14 seats in 1979 parliamentary election. Since then its
importance has reduced, rendering it insignificant in the Pakistani
political arena.

In the late 19th century an Indian nationalist movement
developed with the Indian National Congress being
founded in 1885 as a forum, that became a political party
subsequently. The Congress made no conscious efforts to enlist the
Muslim community in its struggle for Indian independence. Although
some Muslims were active in the Congress, majority of Muslim
leaders did not trust the Hindu predominance and most of the
Muslims remained reluctant to join the Congress Party.

A turning point came in 1900 when the British administration in
the largest Indian state, the United
Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), acceded to Hindu demands
and made Hindi, written in the
Devanagari script, the
official
language. This seemed to aggravate Muslim fears that the Hindu
majority would seek to suppress Muslim culture and religion in an
independent India. A British official, Sir Percival Griffiths, wrote of these
perceptions: "the Muslim belief that their interest must be
regarded as completely separate from those of the Hindus, and that
no fusion of the two communities was possible."

Early
years

Sir Aga Khan
was appointed the first Honorary President of the Muslim League.
The headquarters were established at Lucknow. There were also six vice-presidents, a
secretary and two joint secretaries initially appointed for a
three-years term, proportionately from different provinces.[2]
The principles of the League were espoused in the "Green Book,"
which included the organisation's constitution, written by Maulana
Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include
establishing an independent Muslim state, but rather concentrated
on protecting Muslim liberties and rights, promoting understanding
between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating the
Muslim and Indian community at large on the actions of the
government, and discouraging violence.

The
search for a solution

Jinnah
became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt
to form a Hindu-Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in
Britain. The leadership of the League was taken over by Sir Muhammad
Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a separate
Muslim state in India. The "Two-Nation Theory," the belief that
Hindus and Muslims were two different nations who could not live in
one country, gained popularity among Muslims. The two-state
solution was rejected by the Congress leaders, who favoured a
united India based on composite national identity. Iqbal's policy
of uniting the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Punjab,
and Sindh into a new Muslim majority state united the many factions
of the League.

The League, however, rejected the proposal that the committee
returned (called the Nehru Report), arguing that it gave too
little representation (one quarter) to Muslims, established
Devanagari as the official language of the colony, and demanded
that India turn into a de facto unitary state, with residuary
powers resting at the center – the League had demanded at least
one-third representation in the legislature and sizeable autonomy
for the Muslim provinces. Jinnah reported a "parting of the ways"
after his requests for minor amendments to the proposal were denied
outright, and relations between the Congress and the League began
to sour.

Campaign
for Pakistan

Muslim League Working Committee at the Lahore session

At a League conference in Lahore in 1940, Jinnah said: "Hindus and the
Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social
customs and literature... It is quite clear that Hindus and Muslims
derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They
have different epics, different heroes and different episodes... To
yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a
numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to
growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be
so built up for the government of such a state."

At Lahore the League formally recommitted itself to creating an
independent Muslim state called Pakistan, including Sindh, Punjab,Baluchistan,
the North West Frontier Province and Bengal, that would be "wholly
autonomous and sovereign." The resolution guaranteed protection for
non-Muslim religions. The Lahore Resolution was adopted on
March 23, 1940, and its principles formed the foundation for
Pakistan's first constitution. Talks between Jinnah and Gandhi in
1944 in Bombay failed to achieve agreement. This
was the last attempt to reach a single-state solution.

Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Resolution with Jinnah
presiding the session.

In the 1940s, Jinnah emerged as a leader of the Indian Muslims
and was popularly known as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader). In
the Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, the
League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (and about
89.2% of Muslim votes) on a policy of creating an independent state
of Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was
not granted. Gandhi, Maulana Azad and Nehru, who with the election
of another Labour government in Britain in 1945 saw independence
within reach, were adamantly opposed to dividing India.

The All-India Muslim League was a political party in British India. It was founded at Dacca (now Dhaka, Bangladesh), in the Bengal Presidency, in 1906. The party played an important role during the 1940s in the Indian independence movement. It developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent.[1] After the independence of India and Pakistan, the League continued as a minor party in India, especially in Kerala, where it is often in government within a coalition with others. In Pakistan, the League formed the country's first government, but disintegrated during the 1950s after an army coup. One or more factions of the Muslim League have been in power in most of the civilian governments of Pakistan since 1947. In Bangladesh, the party was revived in 1976 and won 14 seats in 1979 parliamentary election. Its importants has decreased since then, it is no longer significant in the political landscape of the country, in 2011.

References

↑ Jalal, Ayesha (1994) The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521458504